Square Enix's first MMO is still going strong with Seekers of Adoulin.

Before you all furiously click the "Comments" link so you can tell me that I don't know how to write Roman numerals, let me confirm this post's title. While Square Enix is hard at work relaunching its problematic Final Fantasy XIV, it can still show a little love for its first MMO project. Seekers of Adoulin, a new expansion for 2003's Final Fantasy XI, will launch for PC and Xbox 360 in March 2013, bringing with it new areas, new enemies, new story content, and two new jobs.

The expansion takes place, unsurprisingly, in the Sacred City of Adoulin, whose surrounding landscape includes bustling cityscapes, storied castles, and enchanting seaside locales. Players will do battle with a host of unusual creatures, ranging from the rhinocerotic Velkk to groups of beautiful but deadly butterflies known as Twitherym. Fans will probably be most excited about the two new jobs, though, which will be old hat for any Final Fantasy veteran: the Geomancer and the Rune Fencer. The former harnesses the powers of the elements while the latter prefers one-on-one dueling, although both can act in either support or offensive roles.

Current players can pick up the new content for $29.99, but newcomers might be more interested in the Ultimate Collection Seekers Edition, which includes the core game and all previous expansions in addition to Seekers of Adoulin and retails for $10 more. By the time the game launches on March 26, you may already be knee-deep in Final Fantasy XIV, but there's nothing wrong with giving the classics a little love now and then.

It's really weird that an expansion for this game is coming out after so long. I played Final Fantasy XI for far too many years and I am glad to be done with it. It's a confusing game with some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO, and I've pretty much played them all. Most MMOs are a time-sink, but FFXI takes the cake. The only thing interesting about the game is it's Job/sub-Job system and how you could change classes at anytime without having to create a whole new character. Which is good, because this is one of the few MMOs I know that charges an extra dollar per character.

Still though, odd to hear this is coming out considering all the money Square Enix sunk into FFXIV.

Sheo_Dagana:It's really weird that an expansion for this game is coming out after so long. I played Final Fantasy XI for far too many years and I am glad to be done with it. It's a confusing game with some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO, and I've pretty much played them all. Most MMOs are a time-sink, but FFXI takes the cake. The only thing interesting about the game is it's Job/sub-Job system and how you could change classes at anytime without having to create a whole new character. Which is good, because this is one of the few MMOs I know that charges an extra dollar per character.

Still though, odd to hear this is coming out considering all the money Square Enix sunk into FFXIV.

Well considering it was in June that they said FFXI was there most profitable game I'm not surprised. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118089-Square-Says-Final-Fantasy-XI-Is-Its-Biggest-Cash-Chocobo)

Sheo_Dagana:It's really weird that an expansion for this game is coming out after so long. I played Final Fantasy XI for far too many years and I am glad to be done with it. It's a confusing game with some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO, and I've pretty much played them all. Most MMOs are a time-sink, but FFXI takes the cake. The only thing interesting about the game is it's Job/sub-Job system and how you could change classes at anytime without having to create a whole new character. Which is good, because this is one of the few MMOs I know that charges an extra dollar per character.

Still though, odd to hear this is coming out considering all the money Square Enix sunk into FFXIV.

Well considering it was in June that they said FFXI was there most profitable game I'm not surprised. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118089-Square-Says-Final-Fantasy-XI-Is-Its-Biggest-Cash-Chocobo)

Wow I never realised FF:XI was so successful for them, nevermind that they where still supporting the game after FF:XIV was released. So now I know where it seems Square-Enix has been getting the money to keep XIV on life support all this time.

Sheo_Dagana:It's really weird that an expansion for this game is coming out after so long. I played Final Fantasy XI for far too many years and I am glad to be done with it. It's a confusing game with some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO, and I've pretty much played them all. Most MMOs are a time-sink, but FFXI takes the cake. The only thing interesting about the game is it's Job/sub-Job system and how you could change classes at anytime without having to create a whole new character. Which is good, because this is one of the few MMOs I know that charges an extra dollar per character.

Still though, odd to hear this is coming out considering all the money Square Enix sunk into FFXIV.

Well considering it was in June that they said FFXI was there most profitable game I'm not surprised. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118089-Square-Says-Final-Fantasy-XI-Is-Its-Biggest-Cash-Chocobo)

Wow I never realised FF:XI was so successful for them, nevermind that they where still supporting the game after FF:XIV was released. So now I know where it seems Square-Enix has been getting the money to keep XIV on life support all this time.

Sheo_Dagana:It's really weird that an expansion for this game is coming out after so long. I played Final Fantasy XI for far too many years and I am glad to be done with it. It's a confusing game with some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO, and I've pretty much played them all. Most MMOs are a time-sink, but FFXI takes the cake. The only thing interesting about the game is it's Job/sub-Job system and how you could change classes at anytime without having to create a whole new character. Which is good, because this is one of the few MMOs I know that charges an extra dollar per character.

Still though, odd to hear this is coming out considering all the money Square Enix sunk into FFXIV.

What a delightfully biased post. You're willing to slander the entire playerbase because a few people told you that if you didn't gear swap you were a trash player? Classy.

As for the time sink remark... they've actually streamlined quite a bit of the content for the sake of removing meaningless grind. There are still a few exceptions, but it is an MMO after all.

Sounds like your opinion was formed quite awhile ago. FFXI is a whole new beast since then. But it sounds like you're already set in your mindset, so I'm not going to bother trying to change it. Just adding a bit of perspective.

Sheo_Dagana:It's really weird that an expansion for this game is coming out after so long. I played Final Fantasy XI for far too many years and I am glad to be done with it. It's a confusing game with some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO, and I've pretty much played them all. Most MMOs are a time-sink, but FFXI takes the cake. The only thing interesting about the game is it's Job/sub-Job system and how you could change classes at anytime without having to create a whole new character. Which is good, because this is one of the few MMOs I know that charges an extra dollar per character.

Still though, odd to hear this is coming out considering all the money Square Enix sunk into FFXIV.

What a delightfully biased post. You're willing to slander the entire playerbase because a few people told you that if you didn't gear swap you were a trash player? Classy.

Considering that all he said about the player-base was that they are generally more snobby than most other MMOs, I think you've just proved his point by assuming he's saying so because "a few people told [him] that if [he] didn't gear swap [he was] a trash player?"

Stay classy.

OT: Interesting news. I was never really interested in Final Fantasy XI after learning that it was an MMO, though, since that wasn't really why I played Final Fantasy games. Good on them for keeping up support after so long, I suppose.

It's the 5th full "expansion" (Zilart, CoP, ToAU, WotG, this one). Then there was the 3 add-on stories (Crystalline Prophecy, Kupo d'Etat, Shantotto Ascension) and the 3 add-on battlefields (Visions/Scars/Heroes of Abyssea) so we'd be up to 11 if you counted those as expansions. I could see an argument to count the Abyssea stuff all as one big expansions since it did introduce and change a great deal of the game.

This expansion might actually get me back into the game. I mostly played XI with buddies and one of my favourite parts of the game was the stories that each expansion brought on. After finishing Abyssea's little bit of story I kind of lost interest in the game since after that they focused more on fixing endgame (Which is great and was needed but wasn't what I played for). Hopefully a new expansion will be able to scratch my itch for a new storyline. If I can convince the my buddies who used to play XI to jump back in for missions that would be great as well.

Side Note: High hopes for XIV ARR. XIV had promise but was fundamentally flawed so if everything goes well XIV will at least be there to jump into once I get tired of GW2.

Sheo_Dagana:It's really weird that an expansion for this game is coming out after so long. I played Final Fantasy XI for far too many years and I am glad to be done with it. It's a confusing game with some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO, and I've pretty much played them all. Most MMOs are a time-sink, but FFXI takes the cake. The only thing interesting about the game is it's Job/sub-Job system and how you could change classes at anytime without having to create a whole new character. Which is good, because this is one of the few MMOs I know that charges an extra dollar per character.

Still though, odd to hear this is coming out considering all the money Square Enix sunk into FFXIV.

What a delightfully biased post. You're willing to slander the entire playerbase because a few people told you that if you didn't gear swap you were a trash player? Classy.

Considering that all he said about the player-base was that they are generally more snobby than most other MMOs, I think you've just proved his point by assuming he's saying so because "a few people told [him] that if [he] didn't gear swap [he was] a trash player?"

Stay classy.

OT: Interesting news. I was never really interested in Final Fantasy XI after learning that it was an MMO, though, since that wasn't really why I played Final Fantasy games. Good on them for keeping up support after so long, I suppose.

And what point is that exactly? That you can judge an entire playerbase off the actions/words of a few individuals? I'll admit my post was filled with a little more malice than it should've been, but his post is downright ignorant. And thank you for pointing out the subtle "by flaming me you prove my point" fallacy. But allow me to put any perceived bias to rest for you. I've said the same thing whenever someone brings up the other age old stereotypes for other game playerbases such as Call of Duty, and will continue to do so.

But if you wish to believe that you can label someone based off their preference in gaming, then we really have nothing more to discuss.

Just looked it up and yes, the game still has monthly subscription fees.So I will continue to ignore it making it one half of the duo of main series FF games that I have yet to play, along with FFXIV.

Ah well, I guess it did better than supposed WoW Killer, SW:TOR - lol.In fact, I'm willing to say that FFXI is one of the most successful MMOs of all time. Not the most {WoW} or even second though {Everquest} but probably in the top 5 or 10.

What a delightfully biased post. You're willing to slander the entire playerbase because a few people told you that if you didn't gear swap you were a trash player? Classy.

Considering that all he said about the player-base was that they are generally more snobby than most other MMOs, I think you've just proved his point by assuming he's saying so because "a few people told [him] that if [he] didn't gear swap [he was] a trash player?"

Stay classy.

OT: Interesting news. I was never really interested in Final Fantasy XI after learning that it was an MMO, though, since that wasn't really why I played Final Fantasy games. Good on them for keeping up support after so long, I suppose.

And what point is that exactly? That you can judge an entire playerbase off the actions/words of a few individuals? I'll admit my post was filled with a little more malice than it should've been, but his post is downright ignorant. And thank you for pointing out the subtle "by flaming me you prove my point" fallacy. But allow me to put any perceived bias to rest for you. I've said the same thing whenever someone brings up the other age old stereotypes for other game playerbases such as Call of Duty, and will continue to do so.

But if you wish to believe that you can label someone based off their preference in gaming, then we really have nothing more to discuss.

How about you read my post and see that I said "some of the most snobbish players I've seen in an MMO." That is hardly me slandering the entire playerbase, but I will tell you that the majority of my experience with the other players in that game was poor, to say the least, which is extremely detrimental in a game based almost entirely on group efforts. I'm sure you were in a fine LinkShell with fine players, and maybe if I'd run into you, I'd not speak so harshly when looking back on my interactions with other players. But I didn't.

It's not a matter of equipment, although sometimes it was a matter of classes. The Job/sub-Job system was unique and offered an endless amount of possibilities, but it really came down to you being only able to have 3 or 4 of the game's 20 Jobs set as your sub-Job. If you didn't have the 'proper' sub-Job, you wouldn't get a group. If you didn't get a group, your options were extremely limited, but that's just one example. I also stand by my statement about the time-sink, as I played up until 2010 and the pace hadn't really changed, although they made attempts.

You can call my post 'down right ignorant' if you want, but I was merely expressing my opinion on the game, and keep in mind I had played it since the US launch. I am quite aware of what goes on in the game. I would never deny that it has been successful, lucrative even, but I would never go back.

So yes, my post is incredibly biased. How delightfully observant of you. I make no claims that it wasn't and it doesn't invalidate my opinion.

Yes, I am set in my mindset and you're unlikely to change it - I gave FFXI seven years to try and change it, after all. Still, I respect you trying to add a different perspective and I could probably have been a little more tactful about how I stated my opinion.

I played this for years, but shortly before battlefields addon's i quit. They changed the game so that it was incredibly easy to level that kind of killed it for me considering how long i spent leveling my character, saving several million to buy gear which is now worth all of 50k now...somewhat made my time on their seem pointless.